A New Low Cost Route to High Quality Laboratory Monitoring

Newly launched by IKS International, Xiltrix®Lite packages provide a low cost, easy introduction to laboratory monitoring with savings of up to 25% compared with systems configured from individual modules. With these fully integrated packages, installation and commissioning is simple and easy.

Monitoring and reporting the status of storage devices such as refrigerators, incubators (including anaerobic) and freezers is a major application area. Parameters like temperature, door opening, and CO2 levels can all be monitored, results logged and reported, and alarms generated if necessary. The range comprises three packages, Xiltrix Lite-4 SMS, Lite-8 SMS and Lite-16 SMS CO2, with the capacity to handle 4, 8 or 16 sensor inputs respectively. Each input can be used for a Pt100 temperature sensor or a digital sensor to detect events such as door opening. All have the facility to communicate alarms via SMS, and the Lite-16 SMS CO2 is also compatible with IKS' unique CO2 sensors. This package is delivered set up for four temperature sensors and four CO2 channels, but has additional capacity if required. Connectivity can be hard wired or wireless and the system is networkable.

Even the smallest laboratory needs to be confident of the security of its sample storage, so these packages are aimed at laboratories with perhaps one or two freezers or three or four CO2 incubators. However they also provide a perfect low-cost introduction to monitoring for the larger laboratory, and should the need arise are readily expandable to accommodate additional sensor channels, simply by purchasing an additional software license.

These packages will be of interest to any laboratory needing to audit the performance of its equipment or the security of stored materials, especially if operating under GLP, GMP or similar norms. Potential users include major teaching and general hospitals, IVF clinics, pharmacies, blood banks, the food industry and commercial laboratories.

IKS' XiltriX Product manager, Han Weerdesteyn, commented: 'With IKS' long experience in the field of monitoring, XiltriX can handle the needs of any laboratory. By providing these Lite packages with full functionality at lower cost, XiltriX is now also available for laboratories with limited budgets.'